LITTLE ROCK (AP) — An attorney for a death row inmate who confessed to the murder and mutilation of a woman at a transient camp told the Arkansas Supreme Court during an appeal hearing on Thursday that her client was mentally unfit to understand court proceedings or help with his defense.

Rickey Dale Newman, 56, was convicted of capital murder in 2002 in the slaying of Marie Cholette, 46, near Van Buren in Crawford County.

Attorney Julie Brain, a former federal public defender now in private practice, told the court that Newman's IQ is 67 and that he suffers from brain damage and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Brain argued that the trial judge didn't give full weight to the results of a mental evaluation, which Brain said showed Newman was suicidal and wanted to use the capital murder charge to end his life.

Newman had asked for the death penalty but when his execution date was nearing in 2005, he authorized his lawyer to apply for a stay and pursue appeals.

While Newman spoke frequently in court during his trial and addressed the jury himself, Brain said he did not do so "rationally," which is the legal standard for being able to understand the case and take part in his defense.

"He was not able to figure out how to protect himself," Brain said.

She also said there was scant physical evidence linking Newman to the slaying and that she believes he is innocent.

Deputy Attorney General Darnisa Johnson argued that the trial judge used the proper standard to determine that Newman was competent. Among other things, she cited letters about the case that Newman submitted to the lower court.

Brain noted that some of the letters weren't in Newman's handwriting and suggested that someone else told him what to write. She said the letters communicated at a level above Newman's first-grade writing ability.

But Johnson said Newman, who represented himself off and on through the trial process, was able "to use legal safeguards, such as (citing his) constitutional rights."

Johnson noted that during a mental evaluation, Newman was upset after he described abuse he suffered as a child. The next day, when he met with the evaluator again, Newman said he didn't want to resume discussion of his early youth because, after the interview, he'd have to deal with his emotions "all by myself."

"That's powerful evidence of a person who knew what was going on," Johnson said.

In rebuttal, Brain acknowledged that Newman admitted guilt initially and asked to be executed, but in the decade since has not said he killed Cholette.

Of the one-day trial, Brain said, "It was an absolute disaster."

The U.S. Supreme Court and Arkansas law both ban execution of people who are mentally retarded, but that issue was not part of Newman's appeal.

The high court will issue its ruling on Newman's request for a new trial later.